Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Dahlia variabilis cultivar Margaret Improved.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant, botanically known as Dahlia variabilis, commercially referred to as a pot-type Dahlia, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Margaret Improvedxe2x80x99.
The new Dahlia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new pot-type Dahlia cultivars with desirable inflorescence form and attractive ray floret coloration.
The new Dahlia originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor of two unidentified proprietary Dahlia variabilis selections, not patented. The new Dahlia was discovered and selected by the Inventor in September, 1998, as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination grown in a controlled environment in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new Dahlia by vegetative tip cuttings was first conducted in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands in September, 1998. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Dahlia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Margaret Improved has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and daylength, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Margaret Improvedxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Margaret Improvedxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct pot-type Dahlia:
1. Upright plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit, full and dense plants.
3. Double type inflorescences.
4. Yellow-colored ray florets.
Plants of the new Dahlia differ from plants of the parent selections primarily in ray floret coloration.
Plants of the new Dahlia can be compared to plants of the Dahlia cultivar Margaret, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,769. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Venhuizen, The Netherlands, plants of the new Dahlia had smaller inflorescences and twice as many ray florets per inflorescence as plants of the cultivar Margaret.